There were small signs at first: Hood stopped socializing with the rest of the office, former friends say. When a new directive came down from corporate — for example, the "eight-of-eight" rule that said all technicians must be in trucks and on the road at eight minutes to 8 o'clock — Hood enforced it personally, hustling technicians out the door, Esnaola says.

Employees also reported he could be nasty, or have "meltdowns" in meetings.

"He'd challenge people to look for other work. 'Good luck finding another job,'" recalls Sheridan. "It's not the right message to send to people."

In one managers' meeting with about five others, including Henry and Esnaola, Hood got heated over some scheduling issues and overall low productivity. Suddenly, he blew up.

"You're pissing all over me!" he shouted, beet-red in the face, throwing sheets of a PowerPoint presentation in the air.

"I almost started laughing. I thought he was kidding," recalls Esnaola. "Apparently, he wasn't."

Even Beard saw a rapid change in the man he once considered to be a close friend, and says they argued on more than one occasion in the office.

"It was a dictatorship," he says.

But none of that petulant behavior compared to what happened in the spring of 2009.

A manager named James Kline was sitting at his desk in the office, chatting with a couple of other employees. Suddenly, Hood came through the doorway, livid. In one hand dangled an entire Dish satellite: a 20-inch diameter disk with the metal arm sticking out as if ripped off the roof. Hood walked toward Kline's desk, raised the dish to about chest height, and let the heavy piece of equipment smash to the floor.

Hood shouted that he'd found the satellite in the Dumpster behind the office, just days after he'd told the technicians to start salvaging dishes that could be recycled. Then he stormed out.

Henry recalls the rest of the office staff quickly followed suit. "It was almost comical how fast they were moving," he says.

Even though the incident became the talk of the office, it was never reported to corporate HR. The office had no representative, though Kline says he typed up an informal note that was sent to Hood. Still, he says he and others had talked directly to Hood about his behavior in the past without success.

"There wasn't any point to try to raise any issues," he says.

At the start of the day on January 21, 2010, Absey was in his office when he heard a commotion in the common space. It was Hood and another manager named Kemal Nezarevic.

Hood had asked a couple of field service managers where their technicians were. They told him that Nezarevic had sent them home early, against Hood's direction. Hood hit the roof.

"Why don't you know this?" Hood yelled, according to Nezarevic's later account to HR.

The two began to argue, and Hood started toward his office, with Nezarevic trailing behind him. At the entrance to the office, Hood threw his fist at the half-open door. It crashed open, and the two walked inside and closed the door, still arguing audibly. On the outside of the door was a visible hole.

Absey was shocked.

"I'd be fired for that," he says.

By his own admission, Absey says Hood mostly left him alone. But he decided that since he had the longest tenure in the office, he ought to do something.

"He's getting worse and worse and worse," he recalls. "These people don't deserve it. They don't deserve to go to work like this."

He called the office's HR representative from his car and said he wanted to make a formal complaint the next day.

Hood apparently also realized he'd gone too far and self-reported to HR late that afternoon. In Hood's version of the incident, however, he wrote that he "asked Kemal to come into my office" and that instead of opening his door, "I hit it with my hand to open [it]."

The version in Absey's report was not so polite.

"When Marshall has done things in the past he gets really nice afterwards and Mitch does not want to take it anymore," HR rep Dyann Turner wrote. "Everyone is terrified of him — they think they will lose their job if they speak out."

Turner also took a statement from all the workers present that day.

"That was not cool," she quotes Nezarevic saying. "I asked him what if that were me instead of the door ...."

The investigation opened a floodgate of complaints. Several of the workers brought up the satellite-throwing incident. One called the office a "place of fear."

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This article is more evidence that bullying is a national tragedy affecting young people across America and throughout Minnesota.
We all need to take action against the source of bullying and let kids, parents, teachers, principals and politicians know that bullying is NOT okay. We all need to do something to make a difference.
An amazing young singer-songwriter named Becca Levy is doing just that.
She has started a music based anti bullying group called Right Now.
Here’s a link to her video for a cover of “Right Now” by Van Halen. The purpose of the video is to promote awareness to kids using both music and the Internet. The video begins with a public service announcement and is full of statistics that people of all ages need to see.
Becca lives in Washington, D.C. and just turned sixteen years old.
Rightnowagainstbullying.com

Thank you so much for addressing this issue. It is so devastating and demeaning to be bullied by the person that holds your livelyhood in their hands. Hopefully this will empower people to stand up for themselves. Please take a look at my blog: http://addieprice.hubpages.com... I would love to know your thoughts on this.

If this isn't the pot calling the kettle black I don't know what is. All the technicians I know called him Mitch the Bitch. His rediculious Quality Control check was a exercise in petty B.S. and just plain stealing your paycheck. If he could find the any tiny reason to fail the install the contractor/ technician would not get paid for the hours of work they did installing the Dish System.(and it could be something as petty as not putting a sticker on a remote). We also had to pay for the cable wire, small parts and use your own vehicle/gas to do the job. You would actually lose money on the install if he chose to fail you for something very small. Last I checked 99 out of 100 is not a fail. It would be like getting a $100 traffic ticket every time you were 1 mile over the speed limit. The day I quit another tech said it was like living under a Nazi regime and thats what it felt like, we were scared all the time. As far as I am concerned they deserve each other.

I started in 08 at the maplewood dns office. At the time Marshall seemed fairly stable but after only a few short months he started to play games. For instance if you had a good month he would act like your best friend. The next month if there was a lull in productivity he wouldnt even look at you let alone shake your hand. Marshall, I hope Mitch drained your accounts. The way you treat people proves you dont know the golden rule or karma or common courtesy or respect or etc. etc.

This very sad story reflects the suffering experienced by individuals who work under or with boss who engages in bullying behaviors. Marshall Hood appears to be a classic case study of what we at The Boss Whispering Institute encounter in the vast majority of abrasive leaders: any perceived threat to their competence provokes intense anxiety, and their response to this anxiety is aggression. As Hood states: “"I would say I would get frustrated with their lack of performance in certain areas.” and his solution was to demonstrate his “passion” through aggressive words and actions. They lack psychological insight, and if employers ask them to “ease up”, they are incapable of devising management strategies that don’t involve aggression. As one truly puzzled abrasive boss told me “How am I supposed to get the job done if I don’t kick some ass?”

At this stage in history, employers accept that it is their duty to provide a physically safe work place, and they do this by establishing safety policies and intervening when employees fail to follow those policies. The time has now come for employers to accept their duty to provide a psychologically safe workplace – a place where employees can come to work without fear of being subjected to bullying behaviors.

Why don’t employers already do this? The popular literature would have you believe it's because they’re all evil and uncaring. Through The Boss Whispering Institute’s research and work in the field of coaching abrasive leaders, we have found that more often than not employers don't know what to do. They are reluctant to fire a technically competent (but interpersonally incompetent) leader for a variety of reasons, including loss of valued expertise or revenue, or fear of litigation for terminating the individual. We’ve also found that many employers have confronted their abrasive leaders for unacceptable conduct , but to no avail, because abrasive leaders characteristically deny that they are abrasive. Over and over again we encounter employers who feel hopeless and helpless.

What to do about bad bosses? As we have learned in the fields of child or domestic abuse, legislation will not entirely solve the problem. Even if an abrasive boss ends up facing fines and termination, he or she will only go on to work somewhere else and cause further suffering. Employers are very familiar with handling performance problems by setting limits and consequences for unacceptable performance, and, when appropriate, offering resources such as technical training or specialized coaching. If performance then meets standards, fine. If not, termination is appropriate. Employers need help to understand that this same approach (setting limits and consequences and offering corrective help) can be applied to unacceptable interpersonal conduct. And if the conduct fails to improve, then it’s time to part ways and end the suffering.

I hope Mitch or Mr. Heikens reads this. I would like to point out the review that Mitch's replacement had received, which was higher than Mitch's. I think this might be a good part of Dish's appeal. The replacement received said review based upon his performance as a technician (installer) and therefore it cannot be compared to a performance score received (by Mitch in this case) as a quality assurance specialist. Just because this person had hit the marks in installation, it does not mean that Mitch was less suited to remain in that position.

Looking up Marshall Hood on LinkedIn, he was able to secure a VP of Operations position at Accurate Communication Solution since February 2011 (so it claimed on the LinkedIn profile anyway). ACS is probably a smaller outfit then a DishNetwork branch, but in the end what does this tell us? As time goes by will Marshall climb back into the corporate ladder? Will his behavior change?

Ironically, when the City Pages courier dropped these issues off at my work, my boss cut me a check for one week less of pay than he promised. When I went to get it cashed, it bounced. I called and asked why he wrote me a bad check, he got aggressive and threatened to fire me. ...Even worse? He advertises in your paper. He really hit it home this time!

I have worked in retail for most of my life, starting at age 16. I am now 43. I have had good and bad AND HORRIBLE bosses, ie the boss from hell. The worst ones make you think you are lower then the ground they walk on, you will never find a job except the one you currently have, you are nothing (with out them...), you are replaceable in a heart beat, you have no brain, you are not to think for yourself because that would be anarchy, you must conform to THEIR way of thinking-doing-etc. not ness. the company that they also work for, they take credit for your success, everything is for the benefit of the "store", your well being/your life/your thoughts do not count or amount to anything, there is no compromise it is THEIR way or the highway, it is good to be king/queen/God of this little world, when they fail it it is YOUR fault, on & on & on....I could tell you stories of abuse and abusive behavior towards myself and/or others from over the years that would make your hair fall out, often times your only recourse is to quit,start all over somewhere else or "they" will find a reason or a way to fire you-contrived or otherwise, which makes it difficult to find another job. You, the employe, CANNOT use them for references which they/the manager-boss hold over your head as well. You have no back up, recourse etc. and often times no access to human resources which is often in a different state or there might not be one at all. Your article is right, it is difficult to prove work place bullying when you are a "peon-employe" the "word" of the manager is law-is right-and is never to be questioned. Do you want to know what happened to the Nazi mentality? It is alive and well in the retail work place. Please don't get me wrong, I am not bitter at all because of it, I just have learned that that is the way it is and I don't take it personally. But I have seen it hurt so many people, especially the very young. AND in posting this i know it may hurt my potential for a job later on down the line.....

I have known Marshall for many years and the actions described in this article pale in comparison to the non-stop bully tactics he would employ when dealing directly with Dish subcontractors. Because of corrupt individuals like Marshall Hood, Dish has since completely re-structured their relationship with subcontractors to all but sever the tie between the local GM and subs. Subs now report directly to regional account managers instead. I worked directly with Mitch Absey on many occasions and he deserves a lot more than what was awarded, and Marshall should be banned from the industry instead of cowering under the umbrella of a local Minnesota subcontractor!

I worked for Marshal at the Maplewood Office from December of 2007 to September of 2008, I took the job as I was in between jobs in the IT field. As a Dish employee I came in did my job and had great numbers. When I finally found a Job back in the IT field I gave my 2 week notice to my direct supervisor James Kline, He told Marshal. For my remaining 2 weeks Marshal did not speak to me nor hardly looked at me. On my last day at the end of my shift I walked in to Marshal's office to say goodbye, shake his hand and thank him for the opportunity to work there, I did all 3 of those things the response I got to the Thank You was "Yep, goodbye" I remember thinking how unprofessional could this person be.

I agree with Tired of Reinstalling, if Mitch failed you, you didn't do your job correctly. Mitch was a professional who took his job seriously. You didn't fail for a sticker, it was probably the six barrels you left in the line along with the sticker

maybe he treated the in house guys better and differently. I can tell you we had meetings with 20plus technicians just to talk about what we were going to do about Mitch, and we were not all wrong. It was common knowledge that you will be failed for the smallest thing. He was looking to fail you not pass you. I agree that some techs needed to be failed for the jobs they did but many did not deserve the fail. Like I said before it would be like a cop pulling you over for being 1 mile over the speed limit and giving you a $150 ticket. Mitch was a quality cop and we need that but lets not be petty. by the way he passed over 100 of my jobs but the 2 he failed were the sticker on remote and the other one was the through bolt on the dish needed about 1/4 turn. I guess if he could put a thumb nail between the dish and bolt it was a fail. The customer could have pulled off the sticker and you could have barely put a piece of paper between the dish and the bolt. My advise would be to lighten up. It is satellite tv not brian surgery.

Hey "Mitch's Little Bitch" did you read what I wrote? I suppose you would say that Marshall was just doing his job!!! Professionals can do their job without being petty and ridiculous. I was a quality manager for 2 years with Dish Network and if something needed a small adjustment I adjusted it. Sending a tech back and taking 2 hours of his time to drive there and do 10 seconds of work and drive 1 hour back home is insane. If it needed a reinstall I would understand but he failed me on only 2 out of around 2000 installs and they were both a matter of opinion, petty, and changed to his liking in 10 to 20 seconds. Karma is a bitch and so is...